It’s common knowledge that during the American Civil War President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, legally freeing millions of African Americans who were enslaved in the Confederate states, on January 1, 1863. But the story did not simply end then; there was still much to accomplish around the nation in fully abolishing the 400-year-old system of slavery, one which long predated nationhood in some of the earliest colonies. To start, border states like Missouri that permitted slaveholding while remaining in the Union during the war were not subject to Lincoln’s executive order. It was up to those individual states to commit to emancipation, and the Missouri state legislature secured the abolition of slavery the year after. Another challenge was spreading word of the Emancipation Proclamation to areas in rebellion, particularly remote parts of the “Old Southwest” where Union armies had not campaigned.
Two months after the Confederacy surrendered at the Appomattox Courthouse, hundreds of thousands of Black Texans labored in chattel status until the arrival of General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas, who on June 19, 1865 publicized the reality of emancipation. The ensuing jubilee set the precedent for annual Juneteenth celebrations, which often involve parades and rodeos, storytelling, pageants and barbecue cookouts complete with red pies and red drinks (see chapter 13). According to the Texas State Historical Association, “The first broader celebrations of Juneteenth were used as political rallies and to teach freed [male] African Americans about their voting rights.” Continue reading “Celebrating Juneteenth”
